PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AFX) - Visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he will impose price controls as a response to a two-month general strike that has created shortages of consumer goods.
"We are setting up a national distribution system for food and medicine to prevent scarcities, because the measure must be accompanied by social and economic measures," he said.
"We will have to introduce a system of price controls," he added.
www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.26.03, 10:48 AM ET By Mark Trevelyan
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Brazil's new President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged rich countries on Sunday to declare "war on hunger" and create a global fund to fight poverty.
"I propose to form an international fund to fight misery, hunger and poverty in Third World countries," the former trade union firebrand told the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
He said the fund could be set up by the Group of Seven industrialised nations and supported by international investors. "Many times poverty, hunger and misery are the trigger for fanaticism and intolerance," declared Lula, who took office on New Year's Day as head of South America's most populous nation and the world's ninth-largest economy.
"We need urgently to unite ourselves around a world compact for peace and war on hunger, and you can be sure Brazil will do its share of the work."
In his first major speech before global political and business leaders, he did not elaborate on the proposal.
Lula, viewed nervously by some investors who fear he may hurt the economy with populist policies, has declared a 'Zero Hunger' programme in Brazil and made it the top priority of his centre-left administration.
A FAIRER DEAL FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES In an impassioned speech, he dwelt repeatedly on the world's rich-poor divide and the need to fight for a fair deal for developing countries, especially on trade and debt.
"More than 10 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we still see other walls that separate those that eat from those that are in hunger; those that have jobs from those that are jobless; those who live in dignity from those who live in the streets or in shanty towns," he said.
"Brazil has to get out of the vicious circle of getting new loans to pay back previous loans...We want free trade, but free trade characterised by reciprocity."
All Brazil's efforts to boost its exports would be useless, he said, if others practised protectionism while paying lip service to free trade.
He pledged to show the same toughness in bargaining with rich countries as in his years of negotiating with employers as a factory worker and union boss.
"We want to respect the rights of all, of everybody. But I also want for others to respect the rights of Brazil. We do not want to be treated as a second-class citizen. We want to be treated on equal terms."
Brazil, he said, was "fighting corruption with great force" and was open to foreign investment.
"Brazil cannot continue to be a sleeping giant. And if God wishes, we will awaken this giant," he said.
Lula, a frequent critic of globalisation, delivered one of the most electric speeches of this year's Davos forum, an event often derided by opponents as an uncaring, arch-capitalist jamboree. He arrived direct from the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, which is sometimes portrayed as an "anti-Davos".
His Davos speech was greeted by warm applause and cheers. "I would like to invite all of you attending this meeting, at this magical mountain of Davos, to look at the world with fresh eyes," he said.
"It is absolutely necessary to build the world economic order to meet the demands of billions of people who live at the margins."
www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.26.03, 11:19 AM ET By Michael Shields
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Boogeying poolside was out, bashing America was in at this year's Davos business summit as angst over war and recession drove out the traditional strut and swagger of the global elite.
The World Economic Forum's six-day annual meeting returned to the chic Swiss ski resort after decamping to New York last year for the first time in three decades to embrace a city still reeling from the September 11 suicide plane attacks.
But this year it was hard to hear a kind word about a United States now viewed with distrust and scepticism, especially over the superpower's threats of war against Iraq if it fails to come clean over any weapons of mass destruction.
"It's very worrying that the Americans could be prepared to act unilaterally. They are playing a very risky game," Simon Maxwell, head of Britain's Overseas Development Institute think tank, told Reuters, echoing a common theme in Davos.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell faced pointed questions from the audience on Sunday after a keynote address telling sceptical Europeans the United States was willing to attack Iraq alone if others shrank from disarming President Saddam Hussein.
The theme of this year's meeting was "Building Trust", and surveys of WEF members bore out a lack of confidence worldwide in U.S. leadership. One panel discussion was entitled "U.S. omnipotence: What lies ahead?".
Gone are the days when American businessmen and policymakers showed up at Davos to teach European and Japanese laggards lessons about corporate and economic policy management.
"The feeling of confrontation against the U.S. was very strong, absolutely too strong for my taste," said Peter Brabeck, chief executive of Nestle SA, the world's biggest food company and a veteran of Davos meetings.
"The anti-Americanism is profound," agreed former U.S. State Department official Stuart Eizenstat.
"There used to be disputes between Europe and the U.S. about trade, about bananas, but now we're being accused of trampling on the institutions that we've created."
ORCHESTRAS, NOT SAMBAS No Calypso band jammed on a floating stage in the Davos conference centre's pool this year because organisers axed the customary Saturday night black tie and evening gown soiree.
"A big party is not appropriate at this monent. It doesn't fit the mood," WEF founder and guiding light Klaus Schwab said.
There were plenty of long faces among the 1,000 corporate chieftains and two dozen heads of state or government on hand for the 33rd annual WEF gathering that runs until Tuesday.
The mood was definitely downbeat ahead of a looming war in Iraq and with the world stuck in a stubborn economic slump.
"This is just about the hardest year to forecast and it's difficult to be anything but gloomy," sighed British American Tobacco Plc Chairman Martin Broughton.
WEF Managing Director Jose Maria Figueres said the subdued tone was "as it should be. That is the global mood. Davos in that respect is a reflection of what our members and different stakeholders are feeling. I think it's a very healthy change."
Missing are many of the lavish corporate flings that once filled posh Davos hotels every night. Flaunting wealth and power -- once a hallmark of Davos -- made way for a more introspective mood. A youth orchestra played for delegates on Saturday night -- a slot normally reserved for a raucous do that went on until dawn.
"Before a potential war and addressing pretty serious issues, it's time to focus and not to dance," WEF spokesman Michel Ogrizek said.
The WEF reduced the sprawling attendance list by about 30 percent to 2,000 to make things more intimate. Several of the European ministers who had been due to attend, notably from France, Germany and Spain, dropped out at the last minute.
After the dotcom crash of 2001 and the corporate malfeasance scandals of 2002, many of the past capitalist gurus of Davos were missing.
But Brazil's new leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva added a dash of colour, joking that he could head home physically intact despite venturing into a capitalist hotbed.
Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen is to donate the £100,000 she will earn in a show in Sao Paulo Fashion Week to a new Brazilian government campaign to fight hunger.
Bundchen wants to hand over the fee directly to Brazil's First Lady Marisa Silva, O Globo newspaper said.
She will perform in a show by Ricardo Almeida, a designer who also dresses Brazil's new president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The fashion week starts Monday.
Silva has made the fight against hunger the top priority during his four year term that started on January 1.
The government January plans to announce details of its "zero hunger" programme that is will cost at least £432 million per year.
"The campaign is very important for the country," O Globo quoted Bundchen as saying.
Almeida said she hopes other celebrities will follow suit and donate funds to Brazil's anti-hunger plan.
www.newsday.com By DAVID McHUGH Associated Press Writer January 26, 2003, 5:04 PM EST
DAVOS, Switzerland -- Millions of people in the Middle East believe the United States is indifferent to the region's fate, Jordan's King Abdullah said Sunday, urging Washington to commit itself anew to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Abdullah said there was little chance of avoiding war in Iraq. "We're a bit too little too late," he said. "Today I think the mechanisms are in place ... It would take a miracle to find dialogue and a peaceful solution."
He said peace must give the Palestinians a state big enough for a functioning economy, and guaranteed securities for both populations.
"With clear, committed leadership from Washington, the vast majority of Palestinians and Israelis will choose coexistence and peace," Abdullah said.
The king's remarks drew extended applause from business and political leaders, many of whom are skeptical about the U.S. push to force Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to disarm.
"Millions have been left to believe that the powerful West is indifferent or worse," Abdullah said. "Despair, hatred and division have helped extremists recruit for global campaigns of terror."
Secretary of State Colin Powell also called for a viable Palestinian state in his speech at the forum, though his larger focus was laying out reasons for U.S. concern over Iraq's failure to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
Powell urged Israel to stop constructing settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, from which the Palestinian state will be formed.
"A Palestinian state, when it's created, must be a real state, not a phony state that's diced into a thousand different pieces," he said. Amir Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, praised the reference to a "real" Palestine.
"This is a very, very positive statement about the nature of the Palestinian state and a serious message to Israel," he said.
Asked whether Powell's speech had changed his opinion on Iraq, Moussa replied, "No, but I enjoyed his speech."
Powell "did very well at relating to the mood in Davos, talked a lot about trust, talked a lot about all the positive and constructive things the United States does," said Ellen Laipson, former vice chairman of the U.S. government's National Intelligence Council and now head of the Henry L. Stimson Center think tank.
He received two standing ovations, but Laipson said she thought it was more because of the audience's respect for Powell as a person rather than for U.S. policy.
The Palestinian issue broke into a panel discussion that was supposed to be about the development of democracy in Arab countries. Prince Turki al-Faisal, former Saudi intelligence chief and newly named ambassador to Britain, warned Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., that America's perceived failure to push its ally Israel for a solution undermined Washington's standing among Arab countries.
Biden responded by saying that both sides shared blame, and challenged the audience of several hundred, some of them Arabs, to raise their hands if they thought Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would sign a peace deal. Only a few did.
"Three of you -- OK, I won that poll," said Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also urged new efforts toward peace, saying, "We had better get about it."
Police said Sunday that three police officers were injured and 30 people were arrested when "militant activists" rampaged overnight in the Swiss capital of Bern, smashing windows and two parked cars.
Police used water cannons, tear gas and fired rubber pellets against the protesters, who were blocked from reaching the forum on Saturday. Officials said there was about $74,000 in damage.
About 1,000 anti-capitalist demonstrators marched peacefully through Davos on Saturday, but thousands more never reached the mountain resort after militants blocked the rail and road to protest security checks.